After twenty years of expanding school-choice options, state leaders, educators, and families have a new tool: course choice, a strategy for students to learn from unconventional providers that might range from top-tier universities or innovative community colleges to local employers, labs, or hospitals. In "Expanding the Education Universe:…

This policy brief reviews developments in standards-based reform and explores new ways for holding schools and districts accountable for discharging their missions. It draws on several Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) studies of accountability, many of which are still in progress. The report examines characteristics of new…

The information provided in this report documents that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is a well-managed and effective organization with an outstanding staff dedicated to ensuring that America's future is secure and prosperous. Despite its small size, NSF is widely recognized as the catalyst for the advancement of basic research in America.…

Two papers on performance indicators are presented: (1) "Quality Control in Education: The Use of Performance Indicators," by Ernest Theodossin, and (2) "Developing and Using a Performance Indicator Instrument," by Theodossin and Craig Thomson. The first paper looks at the relationship between colleges and the manufacturing…

Suggests a legally grounded process for determining adequate performance standards while posing the fewest legal and logistical problems for schools. Addresses issues of accountability, promotion and retention, teachers' concerns, student/parent concerns, and relevant legal issues in developing and implementing appropriate standards. Various types…

This book provokes a re-examination of how expert knowledge, not practitioner know-how, has come to dominate how Americans judge and improve schools. It depicts the English tradition of school inspection to provoke the invention of better ways for judging and knowing schools in America. Data were gathered by observation of 39 local and national…

Assessment of student learning and development has become a national issue. The status of local campus initiatives was considered in a national survey designed to determine (1) the extent to which assessment programs have been developed or are being developed, (2) the objectives and source of initiation, and (3) assessment techniques. Emphasis was…

This report discusses the Quality Assurance Program at the OSU/WOSC School of Education, a merged school serving Oregon State University and Western Oregon State College. This major reform in teacher education is designed to bring a high level of accountability to teacher education and is called a "Warranty of First-Year Teachers." If,…

The way that the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) should conduct its quality assurance function of monitoring a processing contractor is described. For the following quality assurance procedures, information is provided on the goal of the procedure, activities to be measured, measures, and the role of…

This paper focuses on the data ramification of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998. Section 1 provides an outline of the role of these postsecondary institutions under WIA: members of the State and local boards; one-stop operators; one-stop partners; and eligible service…

A framework for monitoring quality control (QC) of processor contracts administered by the Department of Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) is presented and applied to the Pell Grant program. Guidelines for establishing QC measures and standards are included, and the uses of a sampling procedure in the QC system are…

This document describes six different approaches to outcomes assessments, approaches that are named in the titles of chapters 2 through 7. The chapters and authors are as follows: "Perspectives on Assessment Policy and Practice" (Bragg, Harmon); "Total Quality Management" (Bragg); "Assessing Student Success" (Harmon);…

As public funds decline and the political climate changes, accountability and quality assurance are important issues for U.S. colleges and universities, and institutional leaders are concerned about a shift away from the established institution-centered structures, toward government-mandated, standards-driven systems. This paper explores the…